


Midas Touch

by Thirrin



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Cursed Magics, Deidara is crushing hard, F/F, F/M, Gen, Modern Magic (magic is secret), Multi, MultiSaku - Freeform, Sakura Centric, Sakura has a secret, Supernatural Creatures, Urban Fantasy, autopsies and hospitals, character death but not really, eventual poly - Freeform, other characters and ships to be added as they appear, the gore isn’t too heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25055074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thirrin/pseuds/Thirrin
Summary: [All that glitters is at her fingertips] Sakura is in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets dragged into something she'd much rather avoid. She's got enough problems of her own - she doesn't need to get involved with a magical underground crime ring.
Relationships: Akatsuki/Haruno Sakura, Deidara/Haruno Sakura
Comments: 23
Kudos: 164
Collections: Naruto Fantasy Week 2020





	1. Chapter 1

6 AM - turn off the alarm, out of bed, try not to trip over the rug corner that won't stay flat, fail to avoid the squeaky floorboard, and stumble into the bathroom.

A hot shower and a minty fresh mouth leaves her much more alert, but it isn't until Sakura opens the window over her kitchen sink and gets a face full of chilly winter morning air that she's completely awake. 

Breakfast is always two eggs (over easy), a slice of toast (just _barely_ burnt), and a tall glass of orange juice ( _with_ pulp, the monster). The fruit spread for her toast is always on rotation but everything else sticks to the routine. Morning meal with her fuzzy slippers still on despite her otherwise sensible attire, coffee brewing while she tends to the tiny herb garden on her kitchen windowsill, the sunrise casting light in from the front of her home, plain white cotton gloves always on, and the dishes done before she heads out for the day.

Sakura is always up and out early, but never early enough to avoid her neighbor. 

She's long since given up on trying to - three years of Deidara has taught her that there's no such _thing_ as 'early enough'.

It must be the sound of her alarm or the running water from her shower that alerts him - or both, probably. She might have been a little creeped out by the thought, but _she_ always knows when her other neighbor wakes up from the sound of their radio turning on and playing the local morning broadcast and the mechanical grinding of their coffee machine. The radio is always just loud enough for her to hear the muffled voices but not quite enough for her to understand the conversation. Two pots of coffee, twenty minutes of the radio, and by then, Sakura is on her way out.

Right on schedule, Deidara is waiting for her.

He changes his position up every morning. Sometimes he's picking dead leaves off the hedge that separates the fronts of their homes, sometimes he's tying his shoes, occasionally he's pretending to read the morning newspaper. Yesterday he had stumbled out the door just as she stepped out of her own, greeting her with a grin and an embarrassed laugh.

(Though she's fairly certain he'd been waiting with his hand on the knob for at least 5 minutes.)

Today, he's leaning against the doorframe, texting on his phone and pretending not to notice her until she’s picked up her newspaper and tucked it under her arm. Deidara looks up, smiles brightly, and slips his phone into his back pocket despite apparently having been in the middle of a conversation.

"Mornin' Sakura!"

She nods in greeting as she turns to lock her door, her insulated tumbler in her free hand and still steaming from the coffee inside. It's not quite cold enough out for her to fully close up her duffle coat, but she's grateful for the fleece leggings under her skirt when the long, brown fabric gets ruffled by a cold breeze.

"Good morning," Sakura replies, dropping her keys and the paper into her bag. "Watching the sunrise, Deidara?"

Her eyes cut up to his face and he holds her gaze with a grin, those pretty blue eyes (well, the one not covered by his bangs) twinkling as he chuckles and nods.

They both know it's not true, but she plays along anyways.

Sakura truly doesn't mind him that much. She appreciates the morning conversation and he always clears the snow off the steps of her stoop during the winter. She'll ding-dong-ditch a pie or two at his doorstep occasionally - usually made from the apples he leaves on her bistro table in the backyard, fresh from his tree. The fence separating their small yards is taller than she is, so she's not entirely sure how he gets the apples to her. But she's never caught him climbing over, so she'll just leave it a mystery.

He's sweet, but _persistent._

But Sakura’s had worse neighbors before.

"Clear sky this morning - perfect for a sunrise, yeah," Deidara says, stepping in sync with her as she walks down from her door to the street. The morning light bathes the long line of rowhouses behind them in yellow, glaring off of glass windows and metal lining. Their houses are mostly identical - two stories tall and just wide enough to be comfortable, a bay window nook on the second level's right side, five grey concrete steps down from the door with iron railings on either side, and a flat roof with a single skylight.

His rowhouse is painted light blue with white shutters and trim while the red brick is naked on her side and the windowsills and framing are a weathered, dark brown. Identical brown doors, but his sits to the right of the house-front and hers to the left, a sloped hedge that stays at chest height separating their stoops. The space between the sidewalk and the brick buildings are filled with shrubbery, blooming with azalea in the spring.

Deidara walks with her as she turns right onto the street, placing himself between her and the road and making idle conversation as he does with most mornings. Her bus stop is over a block away and she _knows_ he works from home, but he never fails to walk her to the stop, wish her a good day, and then head back home or head out on his own to run errands. He’s never followed her onto the bus and, for that, she’s grateful.

It’s a pleasant routine that she’s grown a little too accustomed to.

“Gonna be a busy day today, hm?” Deidara walks with his gloved hands buried in his coat pockets and his head tilted and turned slightly to watch her, blue eyes on her as she shrugs her jacket a little higher on her shoulders.

“Hopefully not,” Sakura mutters, ignoring the way his eyebrow quirks upwards. Three years and he still doesn’t know what she does for a living, but that’s her own doing. Her work is a grim conversation that she doubts anyone is _truly_ interested in despite their polite questions and wary curiosity.

But Deidara doesn’t pry too much, just puts together what clues he can pull from her and takes guesses at what she does. He knows she went to school for a long time - that, she’s admitted on her own - but he’s never _actually_ seen her in scrubs, so he still hasn’t figured out that she works at a hospital.

“Divorce lawyer?”

Sakura chuckles and shakes her head, smirking slightly at his sound of defeat. Taking a sip of her coffee, she glances over and takes note of the sawdust clinging to his elbows, resisting the urge to reach over and brush it off.

“New project?” She asks as they stop at the crosswalk, waiting for the morning traffic to break. Deidara sends her a curious look and she nods to his coat sleeve, stepping off the curb and crossing the street as he makes an annoyed sound and tries to knock off the sawdust. Quick to catch up, he lets out a huff and searches his coat for any other wood shavings.

“Yeah, but not _mine,_ ” Deidara answers once he’s at her side again, unable to fight off his blush when she reaches up to flick a piece off from the top of his head. Recovering in record time, he crosses his arms and they weave around a mail drop box.

“Kept me up ‘til 3 AM and didn’t even _bother_ to clean up his mess, hm - said it was payback for the dust I left last week when I was doing some sanding.” Deidara throws his arms up in exasperation, knowing she’s listening even as she checks her phone. “Can you believe that, yeah? _I_ at least give a little warning if it’s going to be a mask-on kinda project!”

He has a roommate, in _theory._ Sakura’s never actually met or even _seen_ him in the three years they’ve been neighbors, but surely he must be real with how often Deidara complains. 

“Which is harder to clean?” Sakura asks as they reach the end of the block and turn the corner. “Sawdust or epoxy and clay dust?”

“Exactly!” A pedestrian nearly gets clocked in the face as Deiara swings his arm out and Sakura continues on with a laugh as he quickly apologizes then runs to catch up, stopping next to her as they arrive at the bus stop. She stands under the cover while he leans against the support, quiet for all of two minutes before he’s turning towards her and smiling that relaxed smile with a hopeful edge.

“Pasta night tonight - homemade with sauce and meatballs from scratch, yeah. You in?”

He does this every couple weeks or so. He’ll ask her out or ask her over, never disheartened despite the fact that she’s declined every time. He never takes it too personally and there’s never any bitterness in his reply or the next time she sees him, but she’s not sure if that makes her rejections easier or more difficult.

So _damn_ persistent.

“Sorry, Deidara,” She answers, watching the road and knowing it’ll be another couple minutes before the bus arrives. “I’ve got leftover pizza I really need to finish off tonight. Was too damn expensive to let it get trashed.”

It’s easier to come up with believable excuses when he invites her out on proper dates, but he never calls her out on her bullshit reasons.

Deidara gives the smallest sigh but, just like always, nods and shrugs, adjusting his position slightly and looking up to watch the sky for a few moments.

She’s not sure if the quiet is comfortable or awkward, but it isn’t much longer before Sakura sees the bus pulling up and she takes a step forward, glancing back to offer Deidara a small smile. He pushes off from the metal beam and raises his hand in farewell.

“See ya later, Sakura, hm.”

“Have a good day,” She replies back with a quick wave, loading onto the bus with the two other passengers that had arrived at the stop. Even without looking out the window, she knows Deidara stays under the stop’s canopy until the bus pulls back onto the street. He’ll search the windows for sign of her pink hair, offer another wave if she happens to get a seat within view of the street, and watch the bus leave for another few moments until he finally turns back the way they’d come and heads home.

Persistent, yes, but sweet.

**: :**

By 8:25 AM, she’s arrived at the hospital and is taking the employee entrance in, swiping her ID badge and making her way through the halls to the service elevator. It’s up to the second level, through more halls, pass the administrations and records, through the skywalk bridge into the northwest building, and finally into the coroner’s office.

Besides the chief medical examiner and two of the deputy coroner’s investigators, she’s the first to arrive to the morning meeting. As one of the two forensic pathologists the hospital has on staff, she knows she’s in for a busy day.

Fortunately, this is the smaller of the two hospitals in the city - small enough that it was easier to just turn one of the old unused rooms into an office dedicated to on-site coroner reports and investigations rather than deal with travel and transport to the main coroner’s department and offices on the other hospital’s campus, on the other side of the city.

The pathology department and laboratory are on the floor below and the mortuary in the sub-level below that. The office she shares with the second forensic pathologist is next to the lab - right between it and the equipment storage.

Sakura can hear the bustle of loading and drop-offs from the delivery dock below, in and out between the northwest building’s bay and the adjacent pharmacy. She listens to the muffled music from one of the delivery van’s radio - too loud, too loud; how did the driver still have their hearing? - until, 8:35 AM, her coworker and the autopsy assistants arrive and the meeting begins.

She only has two cases today, both of which sound like death can be ruled as accidents or natural causes just from the reports, so she should be done with autopsies by noon -

(Should she visit the cafeteria for lunch or grab something from the bistro down the street? Maybe she should start packing lunches again.)

\- but then there’s still the record keeping and compiling all of the findings into a report and filling out the case file and then looking at the results for a microbiology test from two weeks ago from an earlier case and then recording those findings and adding to that case file and-

Sakura slips into an autopilot of sorts, going through the familiar motions of gathering the printed investigation reports for her two cases today, greeting her assistant, refilling her half-empty coffee, and then heading downstairs to the pathology department to begin their examination. 

They all stop in the changing room to make quick stops at their lockers and don their scrubs. Removing her coat and her black silk scarf, Sakura exchanges her cotton gloves for a pair of latex ones from her personal supply. Slipping an extra box of gloves into the large front pocket of her scrubs, she grabs her camera and Dictophone and heads into the examination room.

A body bag is already waiting for her on one of the autopsy stations and, at her go-ahead, her assistant - a young man named Jun with dark brown hair and equally dark brown eyes - opens the bag for her to begin the external examination.

The room - silver and white and sterile - is quiet other than Sakura's voice as she verbally reports her findings, looking over the body of a young woman who'd been killed in a car crash earlier that morning.

The other driver had walked away with minor injuries despite being drunk - who drinks that early? Or was it just extremely late by their standards? - but the woman hadn't been wearing her seat belt. Tossed from her vehicle and crushed under it when it had rolled - that had been the investigator's report. But she still needed to conduct a more thorough examination to determine if the woman had any underlying health problems or if she'd been impaired as well.

Sakura works with a vague numbness that she’s grown used to, her voice clear and medically professional and her movements precise and practiced as she keeps her gaze away from the far left corner of the room after her initial glance.

She ignores the figure there for now. There’s things to be done first.

**: :**

The body is sewn back up after her examination of the caved in chest cavity - ribs crushed and lungs punctured and filled with blood - which Sakura rules as the corpse's cause of death despite the broken neck. The heart had been healthy, as well as the liver and kidneys, and the blood samples will be tested for blood alcohol levels. A fracture in the skull and more broken bones, but everything checks out, all things considered. 

Blood, urine, and stomach contents samples are labeled and packed for testing, organs are bagged and stored with the body for transport to the mortuary, the figure in the corner hasn't moved in two hours, and Sakura ends her verbal report.

She and her assistant change out of their gowns and masks, swap their eye protection for a fresh pair of glasses, and send the disposable items to the biohazard bin before dressing again for the next case. This one - an elderly man with no visible injuries who had been found in his backyard - follows the same process.

External examination, weighing and washing, cutting, sample collecting, examining, weighing, a quick glance to the far corner, Sakura's voice never wavering, sawing, stitching, bagging, labeling-

By the time she's confirmed the cause of death as a heart attack, it's time for lunch.

With everything cleaned up and the body bags ready for the trip down to the mortuary, Sakura and Jun remove their coverings and scrubs and bid each other a pleasant meal. He heads out while Sakura remains, carefully pulling her cotton gloves back on before she grabs her bag from her locker and heads over to her office to leave her camera and Dictophone next to her computer.

Lunch from the cafeteria is as exciting as always - not much at all - and she returns to her office with her food, eating as she transfers her photographs and audio files to her computer and sending the latter to the transcriptionist to make a written report. 

She spends the next five hours compiling her findings, sending and checking emails, returning calls, going over results from other cases, reading through the stack of hospital and clinic records for other cases that cover half of her desk, speaking to her assistant when he pops in, and checking in with the case detective for an earlier examination.

At some point, the figure had taken up a position in the front left corner of the office, behind her colleague's desk. It's like a static image, completely still besides the very rare shift. Easier to see out of the corner of her eye compared to looking directly at it, but she knows that will change soon enough.

Her coworker is completely unaware and occasionally speaks to Sakura, either making pleasant conversation or discussing one of their cases, until, finally, it's 6 PM and he gets up to leave.

"Still finishing up, Haruno?" Sato asks, coat over his arm and his computer still humming as it shuts down for the evening.

She simply nods, the click-clack of her keyboard answer enough. Still, she raises a hand in farewell and wishes him safe travels, eyes only cutting up when the older man is out of their shared office and the door is closed behind him. Her gaze returns to her computer screen for a couple more minutes as she finishes typing an email, the figure in the corner becoming less of a vague shape with fuzzy edges and more of a solid image.

Sakura sends her email, shuts down her computer, and leans back in her chair to stretch before she finally stands. She moves to clear off the spare office chair she'd precariously stacked a pile of documents on and rolls it over into the open space in front of the book shelves, dusting it clean before she moves back to her own chair.

Sitting down, she turns to face the front left corner of the office and smiles softly, offering a gentle nod.

"It's alright," Sakura says, her voice softer than any other moment during the day. "Have a seat, if you'd like. I'm sure you have questions."

The figure flickers and wavers for a moment before, like a camera lense adjusting, everything comes into focus. The image of Kato Aiya - the woman who'd been on Sakura’s examination table some hours ago - comes fully into view, pale and still fuzzy around the edges and her blonde highlights and brown eyes muted and dull.

She looks hesitant and nervously scratches her cheek, just above the laceration that crosses up from her chin to her ear, before she finally steps towards the empty chair. She moves both too quickly and too slowly, an echo of an image following and floating after her as her feet both hover and drag over the carpet. Sakura waits patiently and leans forward slightly in her seat, resting her elbows on her thighs as she laces her fingers together.

Smiling comfortingly as the ghostly visage of Aiya sits across from her, Sakura spends the next hour speaking to and consoling a woman no one can see and listening to a voice no one can hear until, eventually, she is alone again.

**: :**

She gets home a little later than usual, but isn't _too_ surprised to see Deidara leaning against the support beam of the bus stop canopy, bundled up in a coat with an umbrella tucked in the crook of his arm.

He perks up as he sees her step off the bus and the umbrella is open before any snow can touch her, his grin steadfast even as she sends him an exasperated look as they start walking.

" _Please_ tell me you haven't been waiting out here in the cold," He doesn't _always_ walk her home (there's no telling what time she'll make it back from work), but it was usually on evenings where he asks her out. But, considering he'd already asked and been rejected this morning, she's a little suspicious.

"Then I won't tell you, hm." Deidara answers, his smile growing just a little wider.

Sakura sighs and hunches her shoulders slightly at a breeze, trying to leave room for him under the umbrella as well. She _knows_ he wants her to walk a little closer to him, maybe even wants to wrap an arm around her shoulders, but he knows better - especially since she's so close to chastising him.

"How was work?"

"Busy," She mutters, feeling slightly on edge as she waits for... _something_.

He's in too good a mood for her short responses to even seem to bother him and it makes her all the more suspicious, casting him a side-eyed glance as they walk.

She nearly asks him how the pasta night was, but catches herself at the last moment. Asking about it would just be incentive for him to invite her over again.

"Sawdust still everywhere?" Sakura asks instead, hoping that getting him to complain about his roommate again would distract him from... whatever he's planning.

"Nah, I scooped up a pile and left it outside his door. Drew a little frowny face in it, yeah." He snickers and rolls his shoulders, glancing over at her with a wink. "I think the guilt was too much, hm - everything was clean by noon."

Sakura smiles before she can stop herself and she quickly looks away, focusing on avoiding a patch of sidewalk that looked like it might already be icey.

He takes her elbow even though they were obviously in the clear, but he was quick to release her again once they were past the patch.

They don't talk much besides idle questions and comments about the day, mostly from Deidara, and they eventually arrive at their respective doors, both the streetlamps and the lights over their entries brightening up the street. 

"Thanks for walking me home, Deidara," She says as she digs her key out of her bag, turned towards her door and hoping she could get inside before any more surprises.

Sakura has one foot on the first step when he grabs her elbow again and says a quick (and almost too-loud), "Wait!"

Her groan is inward but she reluctantly turns, looking up at Deidara and waiting for him to continue.

"Yes?"

He grins and releases her arm to reach into an inner pocket in his coat, pulling out a small gift-wrapped package. "Gotcha a little somethin' somethin', yeah."

Sakura _does_ groan audibly this time and crosses her arms, her expression stern as she faces him fully.

"Deidara. You _know_ how I feel about gifts."

He has the gall to look sheepish and rub the back of his head while he still smiles at her, holding the package out to her.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But it's a _Christmas_ gift and you said I'm allowed one of those a year, hm."

She sighs and runs a hand down her face, glaring at him for a few more moments before she caves and takes the present, obviously still not pleased. She never should have allowed that stipulation.

Sakura reluctantly examines the small package for a moment - it's not in a box or anything, just something soft wrapped carefully in patterned gift paper - and she holds it rather delicately, not wanting to tear into the wrapping just yet. Another sigh and she nods, moving to slip it into her bag before Deidara suddenly stops her again.

"Open it, yeah!"

Her eyes cut up to him, narrowed and vaguely suspicious.

"Christmas isn't for another month."

He laughs but nods anyways, looking much too pleased with himself. "I know, I know. It's an _early_ Christmas gift, hm. So, open it, Sakura!"

Her gaze narrows slightly more and she looks from his face to the package and back again before she hesitantly begins to tear the wrapping, stopping just a moment later to look at him with another stern frown and prodding his chest with a gloved finger.

"Just because I'm opening it early doesn't mean you can give me _another_ gift on Christmas day. Got it?"

Deidara laughs again and nods, holding his hands up in surrender as he watches her. "I got it, I got it, yeah."

Begrudgingly satisfied, Sakura carefully opens up the package, balling up the wrapping so that none slips out of her grip, until she finds herself holding a pair of black gloves. 

They're cotton and high-quality in terms of make, with clean edges and seams and just thick enough fabric to be comfortable for daily wear even outside of winter. The backs are embroidered with pink roses and pale green ivy that coils around the flowers and stems out to encircle the wrist, the light from the streetlamps catching on the thread to give the embroidery a pretty shine.

Sakura stares down at the gloves in confusion and surprise for a few moments before she finally looks up at Deidara, not sure what to say.

Her expression seems to be a positive response for him and he smiles back at her, shifting his weight to one leg.

"You always wear the same plain ones - thought you might like to spice things up a bit, yeah." He holds up his hands again, showing off his own black gloves. They're very similar in style, though his look to have a faux leather lining on the outside with white birds stitched onto center of the back of the wrists. 

"Commissioned the place I get mine from," Deidara continued, "They finished them up earlier than I was expectin', yeah. And I couldn't _wait_ to get them to ya so I figured I give you an early gift. Now we're glove buds!"

Here, he seems to grow a little sheepish at her continued silence, reaching up to rub the back of his head as he watched her. "Whaddya think, hm?"

Sakura blinks and looks down at the gloves again, turning them over in her hands as she admires them before she looks up at Deidara again, her expression softening with a smile.

"They're beautiful, Deidara." She says, her tone genuine. "I love them - thank you so much."

He smiles the brightest smile she thinks she's ever seen from him and he probably would have physically jumped for joy if he hadn't wanted to retain at least a _little_ coolness.

" _Great!_ Fantastic, yeah!" He leans forward slightly, nodding down at the gloves. "Go on, try them on! Let's make sure they fit, hm!"

Here, Sakura's expression grows slightly panicked. She almost takes a step back but catches herself and quickly shakes her head, stammering for a moment.

"No, no, not now, I- I, uh-" She searches for an excuse, clutching the gloves to her chest as she takes two of the steps up to her door backwards.

"My hands are sweaty!" She almost instantly regrets the stupid ( _embarrassing_ ) excuse, her face lighting up pink, but she couldn't think of anything better.

Deidara sends her a curious look but laughs and shrugs, taking a step back to start making his way to his side of the hedge.

"Well, let me know how they fit when you _do_ get to try them on, yeah?" He matches her position on the steps in one movement, blue eyes still on Sakura as he stands in front of his door.

"I can definitely get them altered if they don't fit right. Just say the word, hm."

She inwardly lets out a sigh of relief and nods, managing a small smile as she fights off the last of her blush. "Alright, I'll be sure to let you know. Thank you, Deidara. Have a good night."

Sakura digs out her key and offers a small final wave, trying not to hurry inside too obviously.

"G'night, Sakura, hm!" He calls before he slips inside just as she does, stealing one last glance at her before their doors shut and the shared wall between their homes separates them.

She locks her door and leans against it for a moment, grumbling under her breath as she berates herself for her panicked reaction. Not suspicious _at all._

Sighing, Sakura looks down at the gifted gloves and admires them again, a small smile stealing onto her face. She _does_ want to try them on right away - the fabric looks soft and she’s sure they'll fit snugly - but she knows she can't just yet.

Instead, she slips out of her coat and heads upstairs to her bedroom. Depositing the gloves on the desk of her vanity, she returns her coat and scarf to her closet before removing her collared, white button-up blouse, her gloved fingers not struggling _too_ much with the slippery buttons. 

Oxford pumps stored with the rest of her shoes and her laundry all in the hamper, Sakura heads back downstairs when she's dressed in a nightgown and robe and makes her way into the kitchen to grab that leftover pizza.

It's a quiet dinner, just like always, and she tugs off the disposable plastic gloves she'd slipped on over her cotton pair when she's finished, returning to the kitchen as the movie on her TV continues to play and fill the otherwise silent house. 

Sakura cleans up and moves to deposit her plate in the sink, but stops when she adjusts her grip and feels just the _barest_ spot of cold on the pad of her right ring finger. It surprises her enough that she accidentally drops the plate, not quick enough to catch it again before it falls.

But, instead of the sound of the porcelain shattering on her kitchen floor, she's met with a loud, solid _thud_.

Sakura sighs and looks down at the plate, which was once white with a blue trim but is _now_ an unblemished gold.

She glares at it for a moment before inspecting her right hand. Tsking in frustration when she finds the smallest hole in the white fabric near the tip of her ring finger, she turns on her heel and heads upstairs, slipping into her bedroom and beelining for the wardrobe next to her vanity. She pulls out the second drawer from the bottom and reveals rows and rows of identical pairs of white cotton gloves, the stacks neat and tidy and perfectly organized.

Sakura tugs off her current pair, the fingers of her right hand still glimmering and golden - as if she'd dipped them in a metallic paint. The golden sheen is starting to slowly fade, first from the edges closest to her palm and making its way down to her fingertips to reveal her normal skintone. 

She picks out a fresh pair of gloves and they remain cotton and white as she tugs them on, the compromised pair quickly deposited in her trash bin.

Back downstairs, Sakura returns to the kitchen to retrieve her ruined plate. It's heavier than it had been before when she crouches down to pick it up, solid gold and mocking her as she retrieves a small key from the drawer next to the stove. She marches over to the armoire tucked into the corner of her living room and unlocks the door, revealing a mix-match collection of other golden items.

Several random dishware and once-silverware, a now stiff hair ribbon, too many books for her liking, a fewl feathers, one of Deidara's apples, what was once a ball of lint, a _sandw_ ich - she's still bitter over that one - a sprig of basil, a coffee mug…

The list goes on and Sakura takes a moment to look over the solid gold objects with an annoyed frown before she deposits the plate with the other ruined dishes - a few more and she might have a full set that she can _sell_.

She locks the armoire once more and returns the key to it's drawer as she's done many times before. No dishes to wash now, she turns off the TV and lights, heads upstairs, and climbs into bed, grabbing a book as she settles under the covers.

Sakura glances over to her vanity and stares at Deidara's gift for a few moments, her expression softening.

She _does_ want to try them on, but she _can't._ Not yet.


	2. Chapter 2

If Deidara was upset when he saw her without the gloves the next morning, he didn't let it show on his face. 

Sakura steps out to find him etching shapes into the snow with the toe of his boot, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket and his breath visible in the chill of the winter morning. He looks back as he hears her shut her door, glances to her hands, and turns around to face her with a grin that never falters. She's relieved that he doesn't comment on his gift (or lack thereof) but inwardly feels guilty as she knows he's probably disappointed. But she doesn't want to ruin the gloves by wearing them before they're ready, so she'll take his silent disappointment just for this morning and make sure he sees her wearing them tomorrow.

She has the weekend off, which means today is the perfect opportunity to get the gloves taken care of and run some errands. Of course, she doesn't mention to Deidara that she's not headed to work this morning, wary that he might ask to tag along.

Not that she wouldn't mind him accompanying her for a grocery trip. It's just that her first stop is somewhere… special.

Deidara walks her to the bus stop just like always, subtly hinting for her to drop some sort of baked good off at his place sometime - "Sucks that the apples don't grow in the winter. There aren't a lot of good pie fruits in season this time of year, yeah?" - and she makes a mental note to see what she can find at the farmers market. If she has no luck there, she can always go for canned cherries or just cave and make cookies again.

Sakura waves goodbye as the bus pulls in to the stop and she ends up in a seat on the other side, her window facing the street and not letting her see when Deidara’s smile turns a little sad as he heads home.

She idly checks her emails on her phone as the bus drives its route, getting off at the third stop rather than the fifth. It's a short walk down the downtown avenue, the shops and restaurants not as busy yet as they will be later in the day, until she reaches a small antique store nestled between a smoothie shop and a dog groomer. It's only just opened and Sakura heads in, waving in greeting to the old man behind the counter next to the door.

He looks up from the watch he's tinkering with, easily recognizing Sakura and waving her off.

"Ah, the pink one again," He grumbles, that ever-present grouchy look settled on his face. "Go on, go on. Head on in - and mind the lamp! Some little shit nearly knocked it over last week."

"Yes, sir, of course!" Sakura calls with a small smile as she heads to the back of the shop. "Have a good morning, Mr. Masumi."

He answers with a dismissive, "Bah!" and she carefully makes her way through the crowded, winding path of the antique shop until she reaches a door at the back left corner. Heeding the shop owner's warning, she edges past the lamp settled on the edge of an old dresser as delicately as she can, being sure not to bump the stained glass lampshade with her elbow. Once through the door, Sakura passes a second one on her right marked 'Cleaning Supplies' and walks down the short hallway to the doorway at the end. 

This one says 'Employees Only' but she pushes it open anyways, revealing a small, empty room barely bigger than a closet. Sakura steps inside and shuts the door, not removing her gloved hand from the doorknob as she silently counts to 25 in her head.

Once she hits the last number, she turns the knob, pulls it open, and steps out into a park.

The trick had taken some getting used to, as she didn't have any real magic herself besides her accursed touch and her ability to see the dead. So, she'd had many failed attempts of counting too quickly or too slowly before she finally got the hang of it. Now she was able to come and go with ease, well-practiced after a couple years.

Sakura pulls the door closed behind her and, though she can't see it through the swirling mist contained in the space of the stone archway, she can hear it click shut. She quickly steps forward and out of the way in case there are any other arrivals, looking out over the snow-covered park fondly.

Behind her is the collection of four stacked-stone arches, each facing one of the cardinal directions and connected by short stone walls, making a perfect square. The Landing, as it's called, sits in the direct center of the small, secret park, each arch standing tall and strong and older than Sakura knows. Though the tops of the arches and the corner walls are covered with snow, she can still easily see the sigil carved into the front of each keystone, placed there by whoever had crafted the gateways.

The park, formally named Bowerfield after the flowering vines that climb a majority of the trees and those waist-height stone walls (but never the arches themselves, as they're meticulously kept away from the gates so as not to damage them or meddle with the enchantment), was a lucky find on Sakura's part.

She'd been living in the city for a few months and had no idea how to find its secret magical community - or if it even had one - until she'd happened upon a friendly soul (quite literally) who'd told her about Bowerfield. He'd been a witch while living and could tell there was something supernatural about Sakura and, after a seemingly one-sided chat in the city's library, he'd directed her to the antique shop.

And now Sakura can enter the park freely and visit the… _special_ _shops_ situated around the outside.

The buildings formed another perfect square, encasing the park and closing it off to the rest of the city. The few alleys between some of the buildings all ended with brick walls and the shimmering field stretched overhead kept it hidden from outside eyes. It was a more useful feature in recent years due to things like drones, but had been put in place around the same time as the Landing, from what Sakura had heard.

Bowerfield itself was located somewhere in the southern half of the city, but she wasn't quite sure _where._ And she wasn't about to try to figure it out. So long as she had access to the secret park, she didn't care where it was hidden.

Sakura follows one of the pebble-covered dirt paths out from the Landing and through the trees to get to one of the walls of shops, double-checking the time on her phone to make sure she wasn't too early. Several of the businesses are still closed and there are few people out and about, but she can see the lights of the storefronts and the twinkling Christmas decorations through the last section of trees, welcoming and warm.

There are a variety of shops surrounding the park. Some are specialty stores - a couple witch shops, magical tool repairs, boutiques for less-standardly shaped beings, etc. - that are able to sell their goods and conduct their services openly without the need to hide, like some places outside Bowerfield. The rest are relatively normal businesses - such as restaurants, a laundromat, the salon, a clinic, and a supermarket - but provide a safe space for people who can't easily disguise their more obviously magical features.

It was the perfect place for someone with, say, an extra set of limbs or wings to go shopping for clothes and grab lunch, all without worrying about normal humans spotting them.

Sakura's destination is a small shop on the northeast corner, strings of red and white lights decorating the face of the building and a small flock of black birds perched wherever they could. A couple of the birds - ravens, judging by the size of them - let out harsh calls as she approaches and Sakura sends the familiar birds a quick smile and a wave before she heads inside.

The ring from the bell over the door is accompanied by another bird's caw, this time from a crow that flies overhead inside the shop. It heads to the back to land on the wooden counter, hopping closer to the dark-haired woman currently securing a paper-wrapped package with sturdy string. Another raven stands just next to her, perched on one of the prongs of a driftwood branch attached to the countertop.

The woman glances up and smiles brightly as she spots Sakura, raising her hand in greeting.

"Ah, Miss Sakura! What brings you in so early?" A magpie flies down from the railing of the loft on the second floor of the shop to land on her raised hand, earning itself an amused huff from the shopkeep.

"Good morning, Mrs. Uchiha," Sakura greets, heading for the back of the store and chuckling when a blue jay drifts down from the second level and lands on her shoulder, playing with her pink hair.

The woman sighs but smiles at her, shooing both new birds away.

"I keep telling you to call me Mikoto, dear," She chastises gently, running her fingers down the crow's back. "You've been coming here long enough."

At Sakura's chuckle and nod, Mikoto's smile returns and she finishes tying off the package before securing a leather strap around it. Holding her wrist out to the perched raven, it steps over onto her arm and is then transferred to the package, its talons curling around the handle attached to the strap and soon taking to the air. Carrying the package, the raven circles the empty air of the upper level before flying out an open window high on the front of the shop, disappearing with a short call.

"Now," Mikoto says, turning to fully face Sakura. "What can I help you with?"

"Just the usual," She replies as she digs through her bag to pull out a fresh box of latex gloves and Deidara’s gift. Mikoto eyes the black gloves curiously and carefully takes them as Sakura hands everything over, a red bubble of magic appearing around the items and floating above her open hand.

"Only the normal enchantment, dear?" The witch asks, writing Sakura's name on the outside of the bubble with a finger. "I can add an anti-snagging spell to the black ones to protect the embroidery!"

Sakura smiles and nods, reaching out to let the crow curiously nip at her fingers. "That'd be nice, actually. They're a gift from a friend."

She waves off Mikoto's sly smile and rocks back on her heels as the woman laughs and heads through a door behind her. When she returns, the red bubble is gone and a second crow is perched on her shoulder, eyeing Sakura curiously.

"They'll be ready in a few hours," She transfers the crow to the driftwood perch and starts to ring her up, shooing curious beaks away from the register. "I can have Itachi deliver them if you won't be in the park around then."

"Itachi…" Sakura mutters questioningly to herself, inspecting the little stand of luck charms on the counter before she glances up at Mikoto in confirmation. "That's your eldest, right?"

The witch nods, smiling happily. 

"Yes! He's visiting for a few days, so I tricked him into working." Mikoto winks before gesturing over her shoulder. "He's probably back in the aviary finding a spot to hide away in and nap. I swear, that boy's become such a night owl!"

Sakura chuckles, vaguely able to put a face to the name, before perking up and sending her an apologetic look.

"Oh, I nearly forgot. I need a rack of phials or something similar - they work really well for propagating plant cuttings." She smiles sheepishly, hoping the witch wasn't too far in the checkout process to add anything else to her bill. "Is it too late to grab it?"

"Of course not!" Mikoto answers, laughing and waving her off. "I should have something like that up with the potion making tools in the loft, left side. Go ahead and take a look, Sakura dear."

She nods in thanks and heads for the set of stairs against the right wall of the building, quickly climbing up to the second floor. The loft itself only covered about half of the space available on the upper level, most of it reaching out from the back to stand over the check-out and a few shelves below. To the left, an arm of the loft stretches out to the front of the store, connected to the opposite wall of the stairs and just wide enough for a few displays. The main section of the loft only had a few shelves and stands, however, as most of it was clear space to give the birds access to the aviary. Against the back is a single door and several, large, open window-slots, with a few perches jutting out from the wall.

There are a couple other corvids sitting on the perches and watching Sakura as she comes up the stairs, calling in greeting and ruffling their dark feathers. She smiles and quickly steps aside as she hears a caw from behind her, letting a magpie glide past as it flies from one of the three large windows at the front of the shop right through a slot and into the aviary.

Hurrying past in case there are any other arrivals or departures, she moves towards the arm of the loft to find those phials. Typically, only Mikoto or one of her employees were allowed up onto the second level, but Sakura had been visiting for long enough that she'd become fairly good at dodging birds. She usually only visited to get her gloves, both latex and the white cotton ones she used daily, fixed up with an enchantment that protected them from her touch, but it was fun to occasionally browse the shop.

Sakura searches the shelves of bottles and tools used for standard potion making before she finds a metal rack with five glass phials, smiling in approval. As she turns to head back towards the stairs, the door to the aviary opens and a young, dark-haired man steps out. She gets a brief glance into the aviary itself, more corvids flying around the large, dome-roofed room from nest boxes to perches to feeders, but quickly refocuses on the man.

His black hair is pulled back in a low ponytail with bangs framing his face and his eyes, just as dark as his hair, look tired - especially with the dark circles. He's pale, but he doesn't have much skin showing for Sakura to be able to tell if it's just his face's complexion or not, and taller than her by at least a full head. The long sleeves of his black shirt likely keep his arms protected from talons and the collar rises halfway up his neck, neat and trim and only a few stray feathers clinging to the fabric.

He blinks at her before nodding his head in greeting, a crow following him out of the aviary before he can close the entrance. It lands on his shoulder and he reaches up to rub the base of its beak, turning to pull the door shut.

"You must be Itachi," Sakura says, holding the rack of phials carefully so that it doesn't slip against the fabric of her gloves. "It's nice to me-"

"Itachi?!" Comes Mikoto's voice from below, her sudden call making a few of the birds squawk and caw. "Finally out of the back, you lazybones?!"

Itachi sighs and moves his hand to have the crow step off onto his fingers, eyeing Sakura before heading towards the stairs with her. 

"Yes, mother," He calls back, just loud enough for her to hear. "I'm here."

"About time!" Mikoto plants her fists on her hips as they come into view, regarding her son with a fond yet motherly-disapproving look. "We've been open for nearly an hour."

He simply bows his head in apology and moves to the counter to collect the other pair of crows, one on each hand and the third perched on his forearm.

Mikoto sighs but shrugs, gesturing to Sakura, who sets the rack on the counter and digs her wallet out of her bag.

"This is Miss Sakura," The witch introduces, disappointed when Itachi only nods again. "She's a long-time customer of ours."

Itachi turns to regard her again, clicking his tongue softly when two of the crows start to squabble.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sakura," He says politely, finishing her sentiment from earlier. "Can I help you find anything?"

Sakura offers a small smile in return and shakes her head, patting the glass phials gently. "No, I'm all set. Thank you though, Itachi."

He nods again and, transferring the third crow to join the pair on his other arm, heads through the door into the backroom. Mikoto sighs once more when he's gone and sends Sakura an apologetic look.

"He's always been such a quiet boy." She shrugs and turns to grab a pen from a cup next to the register, pushing it and a sticky note pad towards her. "Before I forget, go ahead and give me your address, dear. I left my book at home, apparently. I'll pass it on to Itachi and he'll send a crow from his flock to deliver your gloves when they're ready."

Sakura nods and quickly scribbles down her address, soon helping Mikoto wrap up the glass phials once everything's paid for and tucking the package into her bag.

"Take care now, Sakura dear! It's going to snow again tonight, so watch for ice tomorrow."

She smiles and waves before heading for the front door, knowing the witch's forecast was always more accurate than the weather channel's. More black birds (and the occasional blue jay) caw and take flight as she exits the shop, but she pays them little mind and heads back towards the center of the park. Bowerfield is getting busier now that the day is fully underway and, with no other errands to run in the secret park, she's ready to head back out into the city, take a short walk over to the farmers market, grab some groceries, and head home.

Going _back_ through one of the Landing's portals is a little tricky, but Sakura’s much more confident than she was a year ago. She simply reaches a hand into the wall of swirling mist, feels around until she finds a doorknob, thinks of the antique shop, and opens the door. The familiar muffled creak lets her know she's on track and she steps through the mist, entering the small Employees Only room at the back of the shop.

With the door pushed shut once more, she waits 25 seconds exactly and pulls it open, smiling as she finds the short hallway in front of her once again.

There's a few people idly browsing the shop when she leaves the backroom behind and a couple near the display of porcelain dolls send her odd looks when they see her step out, but Sakura simply heads to the front, offers Mr. Masumi a wave in farewell (to which he replies with a short grunt but a wave in reply as well), and steps out onto the street. The air _feels_ different outside of Bowerfield, but Sakura's sure it has to do with the thrum of magic that fills the park, making everything feel duller by comparison for the first half hour or so that she’s back in the normal city.

She walks back the way she’d come but turns when she reaches the corner of the block, heading into the more shopping-focused area of the city's downtown. It takes her about ten minutes to reach the covered pavilion next to an old brewery, already full of the stands and stalls of the farmers market and bustling with early-morning shoppers. 

As she's only only here for a few specific things, Sakura tries to stay focused and not get distracted by the different goods, heading right for a particular product stand that she usually gets veggies from. She pulls a mesh shopping tote out of her shoulder bag and leaves the stand some minutes later with carrots, squash, and potatoes, starting her search for reasonable pie-fruit.

"So, what, I just fuckin' chomp the straw and eat it whole?"

Sakura pauses as she passes by a honey stand, glancing over curiously to see a very exasperated beekeeper and a silver-haired man who seemed to be about five seconds away from taking a literal bite from a honey stick.

"No, sir," The beekeeper says tiredly, obviously trying to resist the urge to run his hands down his face. "You just bite the end to pop it open and then suck out the honey. Please don't eat the tube."

She doesn't mean to eavesdrop, but the conversation _did_ remind her that she was low on honey at home. Might as well grab a jar.

Sakura eyes the man as she steps to the other side of the stall, inspecting a stack of wildflower honey jars but unable to stop from listening in again as he rears back slightly and curls his upper lip.

"Do I _look_ like a hummingbird or some shit?"

She barely suppresses her snicker and the stand owner quickly turns his attention to her, relieved to have someone _else_ to assist. The beekeeper ignores the silver-haired man's indignant huff and stops in front of Sakura, putting on a smile as he greets her.

"Can I help you find anything, Miss? Would you like a free sample?" He gestures to the stacks of jars and bottles, pretending not to hear the other man complain that _he_ hadn't been offered any free damn samples. "The bees we keep produce really great honey - the orange blossom is my favorite."

Sakura chuckles and picks up one of the wildflower jars, passing it over as she retrieves her wallet.

"Just this one, please."

"Excellent choice!" The beekeeper quickly starts to ring her up and the man, who still hasn't left, gives an overly-dramatic sigh.

" _Fine_ , keep your damn sticks. Just tell me where I can find a stand that sells rocks and shit."

The owner groans tiredly but Sakura steps in, fairly familiar with the market.

"There should be one on the other side of the pavilion," She offers, finally taking a good look at the man as he turns to her. His silver hair is slicked back and shiny, just long enough to reach the bottoms of his ears, and his eyes are an odd magenta color, scrutinizing Sakura curiously.

He looks rather out of place with his studded leather jacket and ripped jeans - especially considering how cold it is today - and she's fairly confident that he's never been to the farmer's market. 

The man nods and rubs his chin, his jaw sharp and strong, as she continues, gesturing towards the north part of the market.

"They're usually near the people that sell all the house plants and succulents. So look for a lot of green and you should find it."

He looks her over one last time before grinning and raising his hand in thanks as he turns to head the way she’d directed.

"Thanks, lady." The man says, rolling his shoulders to adjust his jacket. "At least _someone_ up here is fuckin' helpful."

Sakura sends his back a curious look as he walks away, but shrugs it off and passes cash over to the relieved beekeeper. With the jar of honey slipped into her tote, she heads off to find her fruit, trying her best to not get distracted again. She keeps an eye out for that odd man but soon gets distracted by another produce stand, grinning at the sight of fresh pomegranates.

Vaguely remembering a recipe in one of her books for a pomegranate pie, she hurries over and starts to pick some out as she tries to recall how many she'd need.

If Deidara wants a pie, he's gonna _get_ a pie.

**: :**

Sakura's just in the middle of peeling potatoes when something starts tapping at her kitchen window. She glances up, stood at the sink, to see a crow on the windowsill and softly pecking the glass with its beak. It gives a muffled caw and flaps its wings when it sees her looking back at it before hopping down to her small bistro table in the backyard, a wrapped package sitting next to it.

She smiles and slips her rubber gloves off to reveal cotton ones before hurrying to the back door and out into her yard, careful to be quiet so that Deidara doesn't happen to hear her and look outside. Even carrier _pigeons_ aren't exactly a common sight among humans nowadays, so she isn't sure how she'd explain the crow and its delivery.

Closing the door as gently as she can, Sakura steps out onto the snow-covered yard and approaches the table, smiling in greeting at the bird and reaching out to give it a soft pat before she reaches for the package. Unclasping the leather carrying strap, she unwraps the paper partially to make sure it's her gloves before nodding to the crow, humming gently. She gives it a quick scratch under its chin before starting to step away, tucking her package under her arm.

"Wait just a moment, please," Sakura says softly, the crow tilting its head to watch her curiously. "I'll grab you a treat before you head back home."

It gives an enthusiastic caw and she chuckles, hoping her neighbors hadn't heard as she quickly returns to her kitchen. She sets her wrapped gloves on the table before retrieving a shallow bowl to fill with some lukewarm water, grabbing a handful of blueberries, and heading back out. Pleased to see the crow waiting patiently on the bistro table, Sakura moves to clear some snow off before setting the water and fruit down, smiling when it hops closer and eagerly accepts the treats.

"I thought birds are supposed to fly south for the winter, yeah?"

She fully jumps in surprise, startled by the sudden sound of Deidara's voice. Looking up, she sees him leaning out of a window on his second floor and lets out a huff as his grin grows wider.

"Sorry, Sakura," He says, stifling a laugh and crossing his arms as he rests them on the windowsill. "Did I scare you, hm?"

"You just surprised me," She looks back down to the crow, picking up one of the blueberries and offering it to the bird as she ignores Deidara’s chuckle. Relieved that she'd taken the package inside already, Sakura pets its feathers and glances up again when he continues.

"Make a friend? I heard it squawking and couldn't help taking a peek, yeah." He scrutinizes the crow with a curious frown, snorting when it gives a harsh caw and flaps its wings in his direction.

Sakura calms it with another blueberry and steps back when the bird takes off, finished with its delivery and snack. Shrugging, she picks up the bowl and dumps the water out, making a mental note that she really _should_ put a bird feeder or a birdbath out here for future deliveries from Mikoto.

"It was probably just passing through," She answers finally, crossing her arms and leaning against the table as she looks up at Deidara. "I saw it through my kitchen window and wanted to see if it'd take any treats. Maybe I can make friends with a flock of ravens like those stories on the internet."

She deliberately misidentifies the crow but he seems eager to change the subject, propping a first under his chin.

"You got home early, hm. Short work day today?"

Sakura looks away and brushes a bit of snow off her sleeve, barely feeling the chill through her gloves. "I was just out running errands."

"Awww," Comes Deidara's voice, a slight whine to his tone. "I would have come with you if I'd known!"

She doesn't bother to hide her smirk but quickly crosses her arms again when a breeze passes through the yard, trying to suppress a shiver.

"How do you feel about pomegranates?" Sakura asks, changing the subject herself. She plans on making that pie tomorrow, but it'd probably be best to make sure he actually _likes_ the fruit. When she looks up at Deidara, his expression looks rather conflicted and he sends her a slightly disappointed smile.

"Good shit, yeah. But it's cold out; you should head back inside, Sakura," He sighs, obviously wanting to continue the conversation but very aware of how another breeze makes her shiver. "I don't want ya getting sick just 'cause I'm a big chatterbox."

Her smile turns fond and she pushes off from the edge of the bistro table, brushing any lingering snow off of her house robe before raising a hand in farewell.

"See you later, Deidara. Stay warm."

He returns the sentiment, not budging from his spot until she's back inside, and she misses how he looks in the direction the crow had flown. Deidara frowns to himself before finally pulling back and closing his window, locking it with a soft click.

**: :**

Monday morning, Sakura heads out dressed in her usual white button-up, silk scarf, and long skirt combo. But, this time, she's sure to tug the black, embroidered gloves onto her hands, smiling as Mikoto's enchantment holds and they don't turn to gold. House keys in hand, she steps out to see a fresh layer of snow on the ground and Deidara shoveling his stoop clean.

He looks up to greet her but, at the sight of her hands, he cuts himself off and the brightest grin she's ever seen from him bursts onto his face. Dropping the shovel, he practically vaults over the hedge separating them and stops just short of taking one of her hands in his own, still beaming but looking a little more sheepish as he steps back.

"You're wearing the gloves!" Deidara says, foregoing greeting her as he's obviously too excited. "How do they fit, yeah? Not too tight?"

Sakura smiles gently and he backtracks as she steps down and moves for the street, slipping her keys into the bag on her shoulder.

"Morning, Deidara." They immediately fall into their morning routine as she heads for the bus stop, his smile never leaving his face. "They fit just right. Thank you again."

His grin widens and he rubs the back of his head, avoiding a pile of snow that was most likely hiding a trash can.

"Great! Awesome, yeah!" He nearly slips on a patch of ice in his excitement and Sakura quickly reaches out to catch his arm, chuckling under her breath when his face turns a little pink.

"I-I'm glad!" Deidara says, trying to brush the moment off and recover. "They look good on you."

"You've got good tastes," Sakura replies, holding a hand up to appreciate the embroidery. "The stitching is excellent."

He's got an admirable pep to his step and, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets, Deidara tilts his head slightly as he looks at her, his blue eyes sparkling.

"I can give you a referral if you wanna update your collection. Or get some of the older ones embroidered, hm."

Sakura hums thoughtfully, taking a sip from her thermos. "I might take you up on that, actually. The all-white look _is_ a little plain…"

Deidara’s smile grows all the wider and he's quick to pull his phone out, typing silently for a few moments before he sends her a text with all the information. Sakura feels her phone buzz in her bag but decides to check the address later, instead turning her focus to discussing the benefits of touchscreen-compatible gloves versus the ruined aesthetics of the pad on the fingertips. They chat amicably as they walk, careful of ice and snow on the ground before, eventually, they're at the bus stop.

Sakura inconspicuously brings up pomegranates again while she waits for her ride, planning on bringing the finished pie by his place after she gets off work. She'd overestimated just how many she'd need for the recipe and had ended up with enough seeds for a second pie but, by the time the bus pulled up, she was confident that she'd only be eating one by herself.

Deidara wishes her a good day as she boards and Sakura waves at him through the window once she's seated, pulling out her cellphone. As the bus pulls away from the curb, she checks his text and looks up the shop, saving the location for future reference. Maybe she _would_ get some of her plain gloves touched up with some nice embroidery or something.

The bus ride passes uneventfully and, by the time she arrives at the coroner’s office and gets her assignments for the day, she's pretty sure her shift will pass uneventfully.

That is, until her assistant unzips the black body bag and Sakura finds a vaguely _familiar_ face on her examination table. 

Her hands, holding the clipboard and pen, low slightly as she frowns in confusion, trying to recall why this corpse seems so familiar. Jun sends her a curious look and she shrugs it off, beginning her external examination as she pushes her confusion to the back of her mind. She writes down a few notes as she speaks aloud, her Dictophone sitting nearby on one of the counters against the wall and recording her verbal report.

"Identity: Unknown. The victim appears to have suffered a gunshot wound to the forehead," She says, circling the table while her assistant drags the rolling tray of tools closer, waiting for her to give him the go-ahead to start removing the clothes. "Judging by the powder tattooing and seared skin around the entry wound, but the lack of a muzzle imprint, the shot was likely taken at close range, but not in contact with the victim's head."

She moves her head around for a better angle at the hole in the man's forehead, but doesn't reach out to move his hair away from the wound yet. The hole is circular and about half an inch wide, the edges of the skin blackened and burned with a wide zone of powder soot around the entry point. The reddish-brown stippling on the skin (pinpoint abrasions from unburnt powder grains leaving the gun) indicates that the man had been alive when he was shot.

"Complexion: pale. Hair: short and silver. Eyes…" Sakura reaches out and carefully lifts one of the corpse's partially-open eyelids with a gloved finger and pauses at the sight of magenta irises around the dilated pupils. She blinks, lips parted, and suddenly realizes why the man seems so familiar.

"Dr. Haruno..?"

Sakura glances up as Jun calls to her and straightens, clearing her thoughts.

"I'm alright - let's continue."

She takes a much better look at the corpse's face and inwardly confirms that this is _definitely_ the man she'd bumped into at the farmers market two days ago. Vaguely recalling that the report had stated the body had been found outside the hospital this morning, she makes a mental note to read it more thoroughly after the examination.

Sakura always suspected that, one day, she'd end up performing an autopsy on the body of someone she kinda-sorta knew, but this _is_ the first time that's happened. Rather unprepared, she's feeling a little… off her game. But also more _intrigued_ than usual.

She can't help but wonder about the motive, about what had led to the silver-haired man being shot nearly point-blank. The body was in the very early stages of rigor mortis, which meant he hadn't been killed very long ago - most likely _just_ before he'd been deposited on the hospital street. He was dressed in different clothes than she remembered, so he had at least made it home that evening.

"The victim is familiar to me," She says aloud for the recording, ignoring Jun's sudden, shocked expression. "A report will be made to the case investigator after the autopsy is completed."

Her assistant looks like he wants to say something but glances to the Dictophone, so Sakura steps over, pauses the recording, and turns to him.

"You have something to say, Jun?"

"Excuse me, Dr. Haruno," He answers, looking a little embarrassed at having stopped the examination. "Do you… _know_ this man?"

He asks the question cautiously, unsure if she had some sort of emotional attachment to the victim and if he should go get Dr. Sato. But Sakura waves off his question and readies to start the audio recording again.

"I saw him in passing when I was grocery shopping the other day," She answers, shaking her head slightly when Jun relaxes. "I just recognized his face."

The external examination continues and Sakura keeps an eye out for any lingering shapes in the corners of the room. But she finds none, even after the initial review is completed, Jun finishes undressing and bagging the clothes, and they bring the body back from radiology and pin the X-rays up.

Sakura turns the lifeless head to take a second look at the exit wound, having already reported that there don't appear to be any other signs of injury on the man's body. She continues to speak aloud as she measures the larger hole at the back of his head, Jun pulling an empty cart closer as she begins to remove broken, misplaced skull fragments and tries to clear the wound as much as she can. She takes pictures both before and after and then has her assistant clean the wound while she grabs a few more photos of the body, providing evidence that there likely hadn't been a struggle.

Once the exit wound is clean, Sakura moves to take another picture, but pauses as she notices something at the nape of his neck. She rolls the body onto its side and angles the overhead light before grabbing a rectangular magnifying glass off the cart of tools.

"Did you find something, Dr. Haruno?"

She feels carefully at a spot at the back of his neck, just below his hairline and to the left of his spine, with her fingers, frowning as the round, red _spot_ on his skin seems to belong to something hard puncturing his flesh. She glances to the X-rays but doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"The victim appears to have something embedded in the back of his neck," She says aloud, detailing its location before grabbing one of the rulers on the rolling tray. With Jun holding the ruler in place just next to the red spot, Sakura takes a couple pictures and verbally logs the size.

"The foreign object measures a quarter-inch in diameter, is a perfect circle, though slightly jagged around the edges, and is red in color." She exchanges the ruler for tweezers and has her assistant hold the magnifying glass as she attempts to spread the skin around the spot with her fingers, giving her better access to get the tweezers around it. It takes a bit of finessing, but she soon gets a grip on the object and carefully pulls it out.

It's only about an inch and a half long, with one end (the outer end) flat and the other sharp and pointed. Sakura holds it up to the light and notes that the red color is due to the blood coating it and, after placing it in a shallow tray on the cart, moves back to the man's neck. With a little searching she finds a _second_ spot on the opposite side of his spine, perfectly mirroring the location of the first. She repeats the process of describing the foreign object, measuring, and taking photographic evidence, before removing a nearly identical shard.

With both items placed in the tray and the ruler held next to them for reference, she takes another few photos before sending Jun to clean them.

"Is it glass, doctor?" He asks as he takes the tray. To which Sakura answers with a curious, "I don’t think so."

While he cleans off the shards, she examines the wounds left behind, takes another photo, then rolls the body onto its back once more.

Once everything is clean and Sakura can better identify the foreign objects, she realizes they're small _crystals_ of some sort. The edges aren't perfectly smooth like quartz - instead, they jagged and ridged, but run evenly down the length of the crystals, as if someone had taken hundreds of incredibly thin sticks and fused them together. They are white but not completely opaque, allowing the blood to reflect through and make the flat ends look red from the outside.

She recalls how he'd been looking for a 'stand that sells rocks and shit' and can't help but wonder if it was connected.

Sakura takes several pictures from different angles before bagging the shards for evidence and making a note to try to identify them later when she was on her computer. Returning to the autopsy, she takes tissue samples for histology and blood for toxicology and typing before turning the examination inward.

The organs are measured and weighed, checked over for any abnormalities, and returned to the body. With no evidence of soft tissue trauma or even a single broken bone - 

(It's rather odd, she can't find _any_ signs of old injuries, not even scars from childhood. For such a rough-looking guy like she remembered, it was strange that he seemed to have not retained evidence of a single even _mildly_ serious injury in his life.)

\- anywhere besides the hole in his skull and the bullet path through his (otherwise normal) brain, the case is shaping up to be a fairly standard gunshot-wound-to-the-head homicide.

Besides the odd crystals she'd found stabbed into the nape of his neck, of course.

Sakura stitches the body back up, returns it to its bag with help from Jun, then approves it to be taken down to the morgue while she compiles her findings. All the while, she searches out of the corner of her eye for a lingering spirit, disappointed when she finds none.

It wasn't uncommon. Sometimes souls passed on by themselves without her aide or simply wandered off elsewhere. But, she can't help admitting that she is curious about this case and wishes she could speak one last time with the silver-haired man and find out what might have happened.

For now, however, she has other cases to attend to.

**: :**

It takes some searching, but Sakura eventually identifies the crystals as selenite.

She lingers on a web page describing its 'abilities' in aiding in sleep and deep peace for a moment before closing the tab and adding her find to the report. She'd already called the investigator in charge of the case to set up a time to talk about how she'd seen the man before and was now mostly through with her reports for her other cases and recordings for the day. He still hadn't been identified and no one had come forward with a missing person's report, but he'd technically only been dead for about twelve hours, so it might be a while before someone realizes he's missing.

It was hours later now, already past the end of her day, and Sakura debates opening back up that tab she'd just closed, wondering if the crystals were toxic. But, she's tired and it's been a long shift, so she'll save that idea for tomorrow and finish downloading her audio file and photos for the silver-haired man's case before locking up and heading home.

She leans back in her chair and balances a pencil on her upper lip as the files upload, alone in her office as Sato had already left for the evening. Her gaze crawls over to the corner of the room every so often, still hoping his spirit would appear, but she truly is _completely_ alone. When her computer alerts her that the transfer is complete, she takes a moment to scroll through the photos and pauses as she realizes she'd missed something.

Though she had pictures of the silver-haired man with the trail of blood running down his face and his hair in a disarray, she'd _apparently_ neglected to take a photo of him all cleaned up and his features much more identifiable.

Sakura curses under her breath, drops her pencil in a mug of pens, and slips the memory card back into her camera. Quickly emailing the audio recording to the transcriptionist, she closes down her computer, grabs jer coat and bag, and decides to get a picture before she goes home. Leaving her office, she heads down to the changing room next to the lab but forgoes changing into her scrubs. Instead, she simply swaps Deidara’s gloves for a latex pair, tucking the former in her skirt's pocket, and steps into a pair of sterile booties to cover her shoes.

She keeps her coat folded over her arm and her camera in hand as she heads to the pair of swinging doors that lead down to the mortuary. Once through the entrance, she follows the sloped incline path on her right down to the sub-level. It turns once, doubling back in the direction she'd come but still in a descent, and the stone walls, painted white, are far enough apart for her not to feel claustrophobic. There's enough grip on the shoe coverings for her to not slip on the linoleum and she passes a janitor swabbing down the flooring, raising a hand in greeting.

It's always quiet in the Northwest building, as the doctor offices and patient rooms are in the East wing, but it's late enough in the day that most employees have already gone home. Sakura isn't too bothered, as she's used to staying late, and she enters the morgue fairly quickly after swiping her ID card when she reaches the locked pair of doors at the end of the sloped hall, heading for the wall of steel fridges. There's only the single entrance into the chilly room, with the ramped corridor leading upstairs rather than an elevator to better transport bodies up to and down from the pathology department, and it's completely empty - besides whatever's in the coolers.

There's a tall rolling table near the entrance, the metal top covered by a long sterile sheet that someone had left out. The edges of the fabric reach down to the floor on three sides and Sakura clicks her tongue at the sight, wondering who'd neglected to put it up, but deposits her coat on top of the table anyways. She searches the wall of body drawers for the right label and eventually opens one of the doors, pulling the sturdy metal tray holding her mystery man out of the just-under 40 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. Making sure her latex gloves are secure, she pulls the sterile sheet covering the silver-haired corpse down to mid-chest and looks over his admittedly handsome face one last time before brushing his hair away from the hole in his forehead and raising her camera.

Sakura takes a couple photos before reaching out to lift an eyelid, needing to get a shot of his eyes.

She jerks back with a startled gasp, however, bumping the tray with her leg, as she finds those magenta irises surrounding _constricted_ pupils.

Hand on her chest and her eyes wide, she stares at the body for a long moment, wondering if she'd just imagined that. Pupils are supposed to be dilated after death until rigor mortis makes the body's muscles begin to tighten once more. And the frigid temperature of the drawers was supposed to _postpone_ those effects; he shouldn't have entered that stage yet.

Sakura keeps staring for a moment, noting that she'd disturbed his arm when she bumped the tray and it was now hanging limply over the edge. Taking a breath and inwardly telling herself that she'd been mistaken, she steps forward and moves to lift his arm back up onto the metal top, but pauses as she notices something on his palm. Holding his wrist, her eyebrows furrow in confusion as she inspects the odd symbol drawn on the palm of his hand, absolutely _certain_ that it hadn't been there before.

She traces a gloved finger over the curves of the line but freezes when the dark brown mark begins to turn red. When it starts to _glow_ , Sakura quickly shoves his arm back under the sheet, covers his face again, and moves to push the tray back into the fridge. _Something_ was going on and she wanted no part in it.

She stops mid-push, however, at the sound of a loud thud out in the hallway and glances over her shoulder. It must just be the janitor but Sakura steps away from the corpse anyways, leaving the tray pulled completely out, and approaches the double doors of the morgue. 

The two doors, sturdy and coated in a sheet of sterile metal, have twin windows at the top third and she curiously peeks out into the hallway, her eyes going wide as she sees the janitor collapsed on the ground. The upper half of his body is just within view and the rest is out of sight around the corner of the turn in the hall and Sakura hurriedly moves to grab her ID card. She pauses as she pulls away from the door as her eye catches movement and she watches as the janitor's body is dragged out of sight, leaving a trail of blood on the linoleum.

Slapping a hand over her mouth as she gasps, Sakura quickly pulls away from the door and presses up against next to it, no longer within sight through the window. She takes a breath and just barely peeks over the edge, her stomach dropping as she spots two figures dressed in black rounding the corner.

Heart pounding, she ducks down, backs away, and searches for another exit, though she knows there aren't any.

But the soft groan from behind her makes her freeze and, reluctantly, Sakura slowly turns around.

The body of the silver-haired man is sitting upright on his tray, a perfect 90 degree angle and the sheet still covering his head. As his hand raises to slowly pull the cloth down, the symbol on his palm glowing bright red and an _unwounded_ forehead coming into view, Sakura can hear the beep of the scanner outside the mortuary as an ID badge is swiped. She shoots a quick glance over her shoulder, filled with panic, and grabs her coat before diving under the tall table nearby.

She takes just a moment to right the edges of the sheet laid out over the table, the uncovered fourth side luckily being the one that's pressed against the wall, and lays as still and as quietly as she can. 

Listening to the sound of the doors opening, she can hear a quiet conversation abruptly stop as the intruders undoubtedly notice the moving - living? _Reanimated?_ \- corpse. All is quiet for a moment and Sakura is able to peek out from under the sterile curtain hiding her just enough to see shoes near the doors.

She can't stop how she jumps when there's a sudden gunshot but does manage to hold back her startled shout. 

Ears ringing and the floor cold under her, pink eyebrows furrow at the indignant, "What the _fuck,_ " that comes from the direction of the silver-haired man.

"You fucking _shot_ me, asshole!" Comes his familiar voice again and she watches one pair of boots rush towards him.

" _What the hell are_ you _doing here_?" Growls a new voice, followed by a grunt.

"Same question to _you,_ jackass!" Another grunt and Sakura can hear bare feet hit the ground and the sound of two bodies struggling to grapple each other before another gunshot. This time it's muffled and, from her left, she can see knees hit the ground hard and a puddle of blood quickly drip onto the floor.

"Quit it!" His voice again, but he sounds more annoyed than a man who'd just been shot - _again_ \- should be.

(Well, maybe the annoyance was justified. But there wasn't any panic or _fear_ in his tone.)

"That fucking _hurts_ , you shit-for-brains! And not even the good kind!"

" _Shut your damn mouth before I blow your brains out._ " The second man's hiss is furious and he obviously doesn't appreciate when the silver-haired should-be corpse laughs.

"Too late!"

"What's he _doing here_ , Sakon?" Comes a new voice, Sakura's head turning to look in the direction of the third man. "Why's he- Is he _naked?"_

The conversation and scuffle abruptly ends as they all, Sakura included, hear the sound of someone running down the incline hall above. They're headed down for the mortuary and a low, quick whistle from 'Sakon' has the other man moving away from the open door to crouch down next to the table she's hiding under.

She freezes and muffles her breathing in the fabric of her coat, glancing from the shadow to her left to what she can see of the exit just a few feet away from her. The footsteps slow as the new arrival approaches the doors and she can hear the click of a gun being readied next to her.

"Hidan?" Comes a cautious voice, and Sakura's heart nearly drops at the familiarity of it. "What the fuck did you _d‐_ "

"DUCK!"

The shout was preceded by a grunt and a yelp and then immediately followed by the newcomer dropping to the ground and the sound of a gun being fired just seconds later. There's a chorus of curses, grunts, and shouts and the sound of fists hitting flesh until everything falls quiet again.

"Alright," Says intruder #2, panting and still standing just next to Sakura's hiding spot. She can see another pair of boots just in front of his own and guesses that he'd grappled the newcomer into a hold and was likely threatening him with his gun.

"Let my brother g-" He cuts himself off and Sakura looks out to her left, bare feet planted behind another pair of boots and facing the men next to her. "Wait, you don't even have a _weapon_!"

She moves her gaze to the unblocked, still open door, trying to determine how long it would take for her to scramble out from under the table and run for the exit. As silently as she can, she removes the plastic coverings over her shoes.

"I don't fuckin' _need_ one when I've got _this!_ " Silver-haired man says, probably showing off… _something_ that warranted a growl from the intruder and his apparent brother.

"What the hell are you snakes even doing here, hm?" Comes that painfully familiar voice. Sakura bites her lip and stays silent, waiting for some sort of opening as she moves her knees under herself.

"None of your business. Now shut up before I put a bullet in your chest. I know _you_ won't heal like loudmouth over there."

She hates that she can't _see_ much of anything, just the white fabric walls around her, but listens intently to every sound and movement. It's all she's got to give her some idea of what's going on above her, trying to figure out where all of the men stood based on what she can see of their shoes and her knowledge of the mortuary's layout. 

There's another grunt and the sound of a gun muzzle being jammed harder against a body before she sees newcomer's boots slowly turn and plant more firmly on the ground.

Though Sakura isn't able to see the silent conversation that passes between two of the men's gazes, she's acutely aware of the low humming that suddenly starts to build near the wall of fridges.

"What the fuck is that noise-?!" 'Sakon's' question is abruptly cut off by a sudden _crack_ and _boom_ and Sakura glances over just as a body hits the ground and the slack face of man she doesn't recognize comes just barely into view. She sees pale blue - nearly grey - hair and green-painted lips and hears a furious shout from above her, followed by a gunshot and a second body collapsing next to the first. There's the sound of grunts and muffled punches and the splatter of blood and Sakura knows this is her chance, while everyone is either distracted or incapacitated.

As the newcomer drops down and rolls to avoid a shot from the remaining brother, she tears her latex glove off with her teeth and reaches one hand out to touch the boots still stood next to her hiding spot. 

They instantly turn to solid gold and, as he takes a step to go after the man with the horribly familiar voice, the new heavy weight of his shoes takes him by surprise and he falls forward. Sakura scrambles out from under the table, clutching her coat and camera, and races out of the room, just barely catching a glimpse of a blond-haired man's back as he crouches down behind a counter across the morgue.

Her gaze meets a shocked black eye and a face identical to the one she'd seen just moments earlier but she's already out the door and around the corner before she can really think on it. Nearly tripping on the janitor's body as she races up the hallway, Sakura stuffs her camera in her bag, still on her shoulder and crossed over her body, and curls her ungloved hand into a fist. She keeps it held close to her chest but doesn't let it touch her clothing and, once she's shoving through the swinging doors and back on the upper floor, she runs for exit to the loading bay near the storage room.

The heavy doors are propped open, a disturbing sight, but she races through them anyways and enters the delivery dock just as she hears distant gunshots from behind her.

It's only once she's a full two blocks away that she stops running, panting heavily as she leans against a brick wall and tries to catch her breath. She hadn't been followed, fortunately, and she debates calling the police, groaning as she slides down to collapse on the concrete. 

She knows she _should_ but she can't bring herself to do it, recalling that voice she knows so well and that familiar blond hair. 

What was Deidara _doing there?_ He'd called the other man, the silver-haired _corpse_ , 'Hidan', which meant he knew him. It couldn't have been a coincidence that he'd just randomly showed up either. Something was going on and Sakura neither knew nor wanted to find out.

She shivers as a cold breeze passes through the street, bringing a fresh snowfall with it, and takes a deep breath to calm herself down. Her coat is still folded over her arm, but she needs to get her ungloved hand covered before she can even attempt to put it on, not wanting to ruin it and have to lug it back to her home. 

A few snowflakes drift down and land on her curled fist and she curses under her breath as they turn to gold before they can even begin to melt against her skin. The light from the street lamps catch on the golden snowflakes as she shakes them off her hand and she digs around in the pocket of her skirt for Deidara’s gloves, glancing down the dark street.

Sakura's stomach sinks when she only finds one of the black gloves.

She hesitates, digging around in her pocket again and then searching through her bag just in case, before finally standing. Luckily, the remaining glove is just the one she needs and she worriedly tugs it on, one hand covered with black and the other with latex. A look back the way she'd come confirms that she hadn't dropped it just now and she pales slightly, realizing it likely fell out of her pocket when she had left her hiding spot in the mortuary.

Running a hand nervously through her hair, she stands there on the street for a long, long moment, staring back in the direction of the hospital, before finally turning around. She pulls on her coat and crouches down to collect the golden snowflakes, her expression grim, until she's satisfied that she's found them all.

Straightening up, she sends one last glance over her shoulder before hurrying down the street to find a bus stop. She needs to get home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! The chapter was heftier than I was expecting lol but I finally got the the scene that was the driving inspiration behind this fic!

**Author's Note:**

> New fic #2 for day 3 of the naruto fantasy week (cursed magic)! I've been working on this idea for a while and finally got to work on it
> 
> hope you enjoyed!


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